I have finally reached my latest goal of 800 posts. With this post being post 801.

With every goal that I have set out for myself with this blog I have managed to accomplish them all.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I would do next when I had gotten this far.

This is definitely something to celebrate, but as you get further into this post it might be a bit sad or not because it will depend completely on your point of view. At this point you might want to get something to eat and/or drink, get comfortable and then read when you are ready.

How about as brief of a history of about this blog and myself, as I can try to make it.

For any regular reader this will be old news, I understand if you decide to skip this section.

Before starting Words From The Heretic or blogging for that matter I had gone through a lot of changes in my personal life. Losing our house, losing my job, quitting a band I no longer enjoyed being and trying to keep those I felt were poison to be around. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling overly positive or fun to be around. I was feeling angry, bitter, depressed, frustrated, sick, and irritated. Being around and going through a lot of this just made me a bit crazy and probably a bit hard for my family to deal with, although I cannot vouch since I have never asked them. I just felt socially awkward to the point that I pretty much internalized everything (I still do to some degree), and just kept to myself. Unfortunately when the proverbial dust had settled I had no friends, no collaborators, no one outside of my family to interact with socially. I’m not sure if strung-out would be the correct term, but it is what I felt.

One thing that I will not hide is that I am opinionated, but I think in all honesty humans are opinionated whether they want to admit it or not. That is just how we are wired as a species. At times being opinionated can lead to some negative reactions. It will also make most people not want to be around you.

Unlike most people I don’t drink, don’t smoke, never did drugs nor were interested, nor do I make it a point to try too “hook up” with someone for the purpose of using them. That isn’t how I work or how I am.

I originally started this blog in 2009. Although at the time I originally had the blog hosted on Blogger, but when I first opened it all I had was the name for the blog. I chose to use a pseudonym not so much to be another sock-puppet but to retain my anonymity, even though a few of my fellow bloggers know only my first name. I didn’t have any content and I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to write about. It actually took me a year before I had an idea of what I wanted and started writing anything.

A year later I had an idea of what I wanted to do with this new blog that I had just created prior. I wanted to talk about the things that I like and keep me positive, but I also wanted it to be a bit of an experiment to myself. I wanted to see whether or not there were those who enjoyed the same things as I do who were different than myself. I wanted to see if people from all walks of life, in the same part and different parts of the world enjoyed the same things that I enjoyed. Because as Henry Rollins had once said; It is hard to want to throw stones back and forth at someone who likes the same things as you do.

Before writing I had heard of WordPress from word of mouth. I was interested because I wasn’t liking Blogger’s interface all that much, although I did check other possible sites. I went with WordPress after a while because the interface was easy to use, I prefer simplicity. Plus the site made it easy to transfer my blog to its new home. Once everything was up and ready I set to task.

My first official post was in 2010.

I decided that initially I would have a set of goals for every one hundred posts that I would reach. With each goal achieved I would expand the blog more. Initially I didn’t have any sections or subsections until I reached a few of my goals and I added sections, a couple of which stemmed from a series of posts. Like Chocoholotastic which started life in Welcome To My Geekmare. Over the years some sections have been staples for the blog and some weren’t all that successful so I chose to close them.

I still had some things to work out about myself but through Words From The Heretic I managed to curve myself a bit away from the negative things. This isn’t to say I am over it or completely healed or whatever, it is still something that is part of me but I have found a way to help keep it in check and not have it take over me. Which at times leads me to take a while to write a post because I will self-censor things that I don’t feel are positive, but this isn’t to say that the opinionated things were gone. It is just how I am.

It was great to see fellow bloggers, readers, and people from all walks of life begin to like comment, sometimes repost some of my content. As well as interacting and getting to know the little that I did about those who came around to WFTH and also from visiting the blogs of other bloggers and doing the same.

After a while I was given the opportunity to finally go to college for the first time in my life. While attending and studying I chose to not let anything distract me. So I stopped blogging, playing video games, watching shows, save for recording an audio diary on a separate blog. I only would come back to blog between semesters. I am still thankful to my family and fellow bloggers for being very supportive. When I had graduated and received my degree/certificate I was proud, plus couldn’t wait to use what I had learned to hopefully get somewhere in life.

I also had hoped to return to more blogging.

Unfortunately things had kind of changed for me personally.

Although I haven’t managed to get to where I need to be with what I have learned in college or want to do in life, I decided to keep myself and my mind busy. Trying to stay productive. I revamped my podcast, worked on projects both musical and regular audio to keep myself in practice, job-hunting, idea collecting, and various other things I right now only have plans to do. Unfortunately this has been leaving me stretched thin. It is why, for a while, I have been really slow to post anything on this blog.

Which leads me to my decision.

After this post I will stop writing posts for Words From The Heretic.

This wasn’t the easiest decision for me to make because I love working on this blog, especially for the fact that it is my first blog. It is the first project in my life that was successful in what I had set out to do with it. It is the first project to give me the much needed positivity that I desperately needed and wanted, and to send that positivity back out.

I chose to finish out the remaining posts, reach 800, and to give the blog another moment of positivity before I stop writing for it.

I did contemplate monetizing or using Patreon for the blog, but chose against it since I don’t know if WordPress allows it or requires me to have to move the entire blog to separate server. The other reason I chose not to go this route with Words From The Heretic is because I feel this would be disingenuous and totally render the point of the blog to something cheap and meaningless. It just wouldn’t feel right to me.

This doesn’t mean I will close the blog down, delete the page, or any of that.

I may not generate a large amount of traffic for Words From The Heretic, but I enjoy knowing that people are seeing, reading, and enjoying what I have written, because it is something that I may have in common with everyone. From a movie we both like to a really good book, a fun board or card game, video game, and awesome show, that one group or album that you might know or may have forgotten about. That is what really matters to me.

I love that WordPress has made it easy to have my content stretch across other places like Tumblr, Twitter, and more. It makes me appreciate that there is more than one avenue to reach people.

This doesn’t mean I may not come back and write on Words From The Heretic again, but for now I will be stopping for a while. How long? I don’t know. I cannot say because like with anything in life there might be a chance I do not come back or I might come back. I cannot say because I cannot predict the future.

This doesn’t mean I will stop blogging all together either. I still have my other blog (Ocular) which I will post on from time to time, but it won’t have the same frequency.

You can also catch me on my podcast, which I won’t advertise here because I prefer people to discover it on their own. I prefer it this way because I would like people to have the decision of listening or not without me trying to coerce them.

I would say this is a closing of a chapter, but I don’t feel that analogy is correct. I feel that I have built a lighthouse for shared positivity and that I am finally placing the light into the beacon and turning it on to guide those who want to see if they share the same enjoyment for the things that I enjoy and have written about.

For those of you coming to the blog for the very first time and chiming in with your enjoyment for the things I have written about I apologize, but this has been a decision that has been a long time coming.

Thank you for your time, eyes, as well as for making this experiment a triumph.

To my fellow bloggers thank you for reading my content and for allowing me to read your content as well.

Eureka was a show that aired on SeeFee (if that is how you spell it, that is how I am going to pronounce it) the revolves around a United States Marshal who ends up becoming the sheriff of the small, but rather….odd town of Eureka. The show lasted for five seasons, was supposed to run for a sixth and final, but unfortunately the show was cancelled by Comcast.

I was a bit hesitant when I started watching Eureka because I wasn’t sure how funny the show would be. Trying to find good sci-fi is few and far between, finding good comedy can be a bit harder, actually having both in one show is pretty short of a fucking miracle. Thankfully I was delightfully surprised at how awesome, funny, and charming this show was. It was actually something my father and I could agree upon to watch. Even the Christmas episode that changed between animation styles was REALLY awesome.

Yeah the show was a bit quirky in an Andy Griffith sort of way, but it was great that it stick with the overall theme that ran throughout the show, rather than the same “moral of the story” mess that I just get sick of seeing. I actually liked when the show shifted a bit because of the circumstances that the characters had a hand in. I feel it gave the show something different to separate itself while at least trying to stay unique.

I also liked that the show kind of gives the viewer a love/hate attitude towards the character Fargo, but in the end you cannot help but feel for the guy for what he goes through and how he has to deal with it. Zane Donovan was also another character that you just loved to hate until you realized what his motives were, but it still change the fact that he was still an egotistical ass.

I have been wondering if Fringe kind of took the idea for their show’s corporation from Eureka. Think about it; Eureka has Global Dynamics, Fringe has Massive Dynamics. Coincidence? Both seem to have some secret “item” that somehow manages to get out and reek havoc.

Maybe, or both are paying homage to maybe another work in science fiction literature.

Definitely one of the better shows that SeeFee had to offer. If there was ever a show that could possibly (HEAR ME OUT!) be an American equivalent for Doctor Who I think Eureka could have definitely been it. Which I think made it miles better than doing a remake of the famous British series, or making a complete mirror. Especially for a few times Doctor Who was referenced in a few of the episodes. Especially for how phenomenally bad remakes of awesome British shows fails here in the States.

Bedlam is a series that started out about Jed Harper who possessed the ability to see ghosts while he was living at the apartment building owned and run by his uncle and aunt which was converted from an asylum. A lot of the ghosts and the mysteries surrounding them having to do with the building and the history of the family running it.

The first season of this show was great. Yeah, it pretty much did that whole “I see dead people!” thing, but it definitely was its own beast. It just had enough intrigue to keep you interested and invested in watching the episodes, plus wanting to see the circumstances that surround the various mysteries of Bedlam’s asylum past and how it is affecting its residents.

By the second season the cast had completely changed and the show was retooled a bit. Unfortunately sitting through the subsequent episodes was a bit drawn out and half of the time I was just left wondering when it would be over. Unlike the first season which was really great, it had a really great mystique and approach. I think by the time they just jettisoned Theo James’ character by killing him off and conveniently replacing it just felt disingenuous, along with the change in the other cast members only leaving.

The one thing I can admit throughout both seasons/series is the actress and actor playing the Warrens were phenomenal in their roles. The show did a great job at making you really want to hate them until towards the end of the series.

I feel for how lackluster the second half of the series turned out I really hope a third season is not made. Not just that, but what else can they possibly do after how the series was resolved in the second season? I think if you put someone else in place of the Warrens would just render the show pointless.

I am a bit apprehensive about suggesting this show. You might like the whole show, or like me end up only enjoying the first season/series which I feel was the best.

A completely inept history teacher does everything in his powers to shirk his duties, but willing to go all the way to impress another teacher he happens to have a crush on. Along with the help of the ragtag (I hate that term, but couldn’t think of something better) students of his class.

Ever had a teacher in high school who was such a blatant asshole that you (and probably a good amount of the staff) wanted to repeatedly cover him in bruises? Then that is pretty much what Alfie Wickers is. That asshole that no one has a clue as to how he managed to make it through college to become a teacher. Then again, you could also use the same question regarding the principal of the school (played by Mathew Horne from Gavin & Stacey).

As much as you want to direct the amount of hatred you have had for a similar teacher you cannot help but laugh throughout the episodes as Alfie repeatedly attempts to make himself look cool, along with attempting to woo his crush, it is equally funny to just watch him fail every step of the way. Or the shit that the principal would dream up, or when he decided to use the WRONG word to the WRONG person and the ramifications that followed. My favorite moments were when Alfie would run afoul of the headmistress, Miss Pickwell.

My favorite episode was definitely the final one when the school holds a “male auction” to save the school and who actually ends up bidding on Alfie and the humiliation he has to go through. Totally awesome. There was more moments funny moments, I kept wondering when the character Jing Hua was going to kill Alfie because of the really ignorant shit he would say to her.

I had watched this series prior to Michelle Gomez appearing on Doctor Who, who was just as maniacally insane as her later portrayal of the Master. I think she has become another favorite in my list of female British actresses. It was definitely weird seeing the contrast of Mathew Horne playing the rather weirdly eccentric principal versus his role in Gavin & Stacey.

Definitely a good show. Funny as hell and might alleviate the want to go strangle that asshole teacher I mentioned earlier in this post.

This particular post is going to be a triple-header since all three shows were created, written, directed, and produced by one man.

Like everyone else I love Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror just as much as the next person, but the thing I have a huge love for is comedy. Especially since in this day and age where everything is just too politically-correct tends to come off prettying boring and sterile. I crave the things that make you laugh so hard that your insides hurt to the point you are literally on the floor from laughing so hard. So I am always asking people that I come across from other countries what comedy shows does their respective countries have.

I do have a strict criteria. It has to be comedy, it cannot be “romantic comedy”, my feeling about this is because a lot of comedies have romance in them. Plus a lot of “romantic comedies” have less comedy and become boring easily.

Three shows that were mentioned to me were Pizza or Fat Pizza as it is referred to, Houses, and Swift & Shift Couriers. Unfortunately all three of these shows are a total bitch to even attempt to purchase. iTunes and Google Play have them but you have to do some roundabout bullshit in order to switch from (in this instance) the U.S. store to the Australian. If you are successful then you get the privilege of being overcharged to purchase something you want to watch at a price that is the equivalent to importing it. As well as them having maybe one particular season/series at the most.

This is the reason I think region locking is total shit and is pretty much Hollywood’s way of fucking people over who have a more open mind to want to watch something that is different. I should have just as much access online to the content from another country as readily as I do the shit from my own.

For this one particular post I am going to admit that I pretty much had to go through less than legitimate avenues just to watch all three of these shows. In a nut-shell I watched everyone of these shows on fucking YouTube or downloaded them because there is no way I can purchase all of the seasons for these shows properly and of course Apple and Google make it a total bitch to purchase.

And in all honesty; these were the funniest damn shows that Australia has/had. Not to say there aren’t others, but I am only limited to what I can find.

Let’s quit bullshitting and get to the shows.

Pizza (AKA Fat Pizza)

Pizza is the first series out of the three in this post. It is about a pizza delivery driver named Pauly who works at a shitty pizzeria run by a homicidal manage whose mother owns the shop, along with the various fellow employees that come and go as the series progresses. This is also the show that started Rebel Wilson started her acting career.

The one thing I thought was cool was seeing the production value change over each of the series. The episodes are damn funny. The humor is pretty, rude, juvenile, and not for the faint of heart. It was also awesome to see Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson show up, which I have to admit by this time I hadn’t heard that band in a very long time.

You have to kind of feel for the character Pauly as he tries to work hard to somehow to get ahead just to get stooged by his fellow employees. Although some of the situations he manages to get in to or that happens is damn funny. Like when he gets abducted by aliens and they leave him in the middle of the desert in just his underwear, just to have his pay docked by Bobo the pizzeria’s manager.

If you are expecting me to pick a favorite episode that is going to be a pretty damn tough call because there is way too many awesome episodes and moments.

The show has some many moments that will have you howling “That’s just wrong!” while trying not to fall over from laughing so hard.

Housos

Here in the States we call them suburban white-trash, in Australia they call them “housos”.

Picking up where Pizza kind of left off, Housos is about the various people (or Bogans) in the Sunnyvale housing community. Pretty much no one has a real job, everyone lives off of benefits of some kind, and everyone is trying to scam everyone and each other. This show is just so cutthroat about it.

Let’s not talk about the Lebos, especially since I don’t feel like pissing them off.

This time around the show revolves around the character Shazza and her….well….I would say boyfriend/husband, who the fuck knows what they are to each other than say maybe co-dependents. The characters are a bit more crass in this series and completely unapologetic. With Housos there were a lot more of the various Australian terms that I had to actually look up (like Bogan).

There is also an overlap of characters and actors from Pizza that kind of keeps the shows related.

The weirdest thing I have ever seen in the show was watching the one character, Franky riding a motorcycle in fucking flip-flops (they call them “thongs”). It was a bit funny and odd at the same time.

I will admit that the show’s opening theme song has a possibility of getting stuck in your head.

Swift & Shift Couriers

I think it is safe to say that a lot of us have worked for various delivery companies that were total shit, but none more shit than Swift & Shift Couriers. I have seen my share of dysfunctional workplaces, but none like this show. Insults flying back and forth, in person and over C.B.’s.

With the characters you can pretty much recognize what it is like to have worked with people like them if you have had the unfortunate experience to work in a similar work environment.

A bit more cohesive than first two shows that I mentioned earlier, but just as funny. Everything is there from fucking up a delivery to the customer service experience to management.

The awesome thing was getting to the Las Vegas episode and recognizing people we know from the various shop locations that they were shooting at. It was pretty cool.

Favorite episode was the one where they made the one character Abdullah wear deodorant because of how much he stinks.

The two characters that had me laughing the most was the midget/dwarf the other characters would refer to as “Smurf”, especially every time they would manage to piss him off, and the one called Jim that although YOU can understand him, the cast of characters can’t because he mumbles. Although the sub-titles for Jim translates what he is saying rather politely.

If you can and have the ability or don’t (like I did) check out these shows. If you are tired of the same sterile humor give these shows a shot.

Just be careful because Google and Apple are stooges and probably have bludgers working for them.

Broadchurch is a two season series that revolves around the mysterious death of a young boy whose body was discovered on the beach in the town that the show is named after.

I guess you could say I have been bitten by the cop or detective type of television shows recently. Especially with shows like the realistic Blue Murder, Jonathan Creek, Happy Valley, and Wallander to the more fantastic/sci-fi variety like Fringe, Life On Mars, Ashes To Ashes. Not exactly sure why I like these type of shows, but I would venture to guess that it might have to do with when my parents would watch a lot of the police/detective TV series during the eighties like Hart To Hart, Simon & Simon, Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I. Although with the shows of today there is a bit more realism to the procedures and cases that they portray in a given episode or as the basis for the entire series.

It was cool to see David Tennant play a character that is more humanly flawed than of his role as The Doctor. I also liked seeing the other cast members that I recognized from other shows and films.

I felt the overall story was pretty damn engaging and kept you intrigued as to what had actually happened to the murder victim and the circumstances that lead up to how they died. When I made it towards the end the reveal was a complete surprise, but I will not give that away because I don’t want to ruin this for anyone who hasn’t seen this show and would like to view it. I will say it had me pretty floored.

I don’t have anything really negative to say about the show because I really liked it. Plus it was interesting to hear David Tennant speak in what I would assume is his normal accent, either way it was different.

If you get a chance to view this, especially if you are into police/detective dramas and forensics.

This is going to be the shortest post that I have ever done. Here goes!

I saw the Tiny Tina moments from the game on YouTube, instant reaction was “That was so AWESOME! I HAVE to play this game!”. That’s it! That was the entire reason I bought this game. On my second play-through because unlike Fallout 3 and Mass Effect this game is phenomenally short, and the only reason for play through is the section where you run into the aforementioned character.

Game is fun, playing through again because Tiny Tina is fucking awesome! Cannot wait to get the DLC for that character.